Quotes

* Shuts wellhead facility at Sleipner West after gas alarm

* Minor production impact, gas transit unaffected

(Adds details, quotes)

OSLO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Norway's Statoil (STL.OL) said it
shut on Friday its Sleipner B platform in the North Sea after a
gas alarm, but its main gas transit operations at the
Sleipner hub remain unaffected.

"The gas transport via the Sleipner field is undisturbed by
this and gas production to the Sleipner A platform is normal,"
said Gisle Johanson, spokesman at Statoil.

Johansen said the production impact of the Sleipner B
shutdown was limited. He did not offer any timeframe for restart
of the wellhead facility.

Sleipner is a hub for a number of North Sea gas pipelines,
including the Langeled link to Britain, as well as links to
France and Belgium.

The Sleipner West gas field in the southern part of the
North Sea is developed with a wellhead facility, Sleipner B,
which is remotely operated from Sleipner A on the Sleipner East
field, and processing facility, Sleipner T, which is bridge
connected to Sleipner A.

Processed gas from Sleipner West goes to Sleipner A for
further export. Sleipner West produced around 7.41 billion cubic
metres of gas in 2008.